Wasta

Wasta: pronouced wah-sta
Wikipedia Definition: An Arabic expression that loosely translates into ‘whom you know’ or 'clout'. It refers to using one’s influence or connections to get things done, such as quick renewal of a passport, waiving of traffic fines, and getting hired or promoted in a job.

It is amazing how many things here in Amman and really in the Middle East are governed by this phenomenon. We saw it in true form while we were in Egypt. Our travel agent set us up with a transfer service in Cairo who promptly picked us up at the airport and took us to our destinations. Of course, he bypassed any lines or queues waving to the guards like they were distant relatives, sometimes even shaking hands with them while he lifted the line enclosures. It was amazing to see his 'clout' used for little ole us. At one point on our return trip back to the Cairo airport, he said he would “open the door for us”, meaning he would stop the line going through the metal detector, waive us up to the front, dangle our passports in front of the guard, and escort us through. I mean, wow…seriously?

While here in Amman, we have had two apartments and have been searching for yet another for our last 4 months. Of course, everywhere we looked, local billboards, newspapers, or rental offices, it seemed all the good or even deceit apartments were nowhere to be found. I was venting to a friend and her response was “it is all about who you know”. This of course, was SO true. Funny that in the end, we used a little wasta ourselves to find an amazing apartment not even advertised. I guess, we are embracing the Middle Eastern culture in more ways than one.

Hobs

For seven months I have been trying to figure out what a HOB is...any ideas? 

Maybe Horrible Old Bowls or Huge Old Brooms?

Riding in style

Really? With the drivers here, I just don’t think this is very safe. Europe, maybe. At least they stay in the lines of driving lanes.

I am rather impressed with the ceiling though. A guess more of an all-weather moped – if there ever was one? Rain, shine, or sandstorm – he will be prepared.

Only in Amman!

Jordanian Maintenance 101

If you have a broken oven that won’t turn on…just remove the thermostat. They won’t need it and it will turn on instantly. Bonus – It will stay really hot ALL the time.

If you have a broken lock on your front door…just don’t turn the lock twice, only once. Mind you this “method” did NOT work, we were locked in the apartment with no way out, and a locksmith had to be called. Thankfully it was our landlord demonstrating the “new method” when the incident occurred.

If your oven door just hangs off the hinges and will not close…remove, fiddle, and replace . Unfortunately, this “method” can work in some situations but not all. Sometimes you must actually replace parts to assure the door will close properly.

If your light does not work…go into another room, find a light fixture with more than one bulb, remove one, go back to the broken light, and replace the light bulb with the one you took from the other room. It is like magic.

If you have a refrigerator leaking from the freezer section into the fridge section…just jam a screwdriver into the water collecting hole to “unclog it”. Note – We will see if this really is a fix-it as it just happened today.

Happy Fixing!

Arabic hospitality

Today was my first Arabic sit-down visit. And, of course, in traditional Arabic style, a one person invite turned into a family of four that then arrived with a total of five (they brought along their cousin). Thankfully, I was totally prepared and almost expecting this to happen.

Leading up to the shindig, was the most anxiety ridden part. Not only did you have the normal cleaning and straightening, baking of sweets, and overall anxiety of what to expect; but when you are renting a fully furnished apartment, you have to really dig to find party appropriate dishes, cups, serving platters, and the like. Mind you, every person needs a tiny tea cup with a saucer for their coffee and tea, cake plates, silverware, serving dishes – need I go on? Of course, with no dishwasher, everything must be washed by hand and dried…just another step in the process.

But I think the most difficult part for me was to be totally prepared for the tea and coffee portion of the party. It is an Arabic tradition that you offer tea and coffee when people come to call, but this was a little daunting as I had no tea kettle and a mug with a tea bag inside just doesn’t cut it here. So I had to get a little creative. At first I used my newly found plug-in water boiler (what an amazing little appliance) and a measuring cup to steep the tea to then pour the readied tea into the tiny cups. Why are they so tiny? I don’t know. We will chalk that up to an Arabic mystery to be discussed in a later blog. After a couple of rounds of hurrying back to the kitchen for refills, I decided why not use the coffee pot. Duh!

Conversation was interesting, as I was the only person who didn’t speak Arabic, while our guest of honor’s mother was the only one who didn’t speak English. So to say the least, I smiled and nodded a lot, as she did too. I have to say, smiling and food having their own language. I was delighted when they all enjoyed my homemade pumpkin cake.  After finishing her piece of cake, his mother said the sweetest thing - “May God bless your hands”, which means to praise the person who made the meal with their own hands. It was such a sincere and unexpected compliment. I must say, Arabic hospitality is on a whole different level. But in the end…very gratifying.

 

Shout out to Bethany who gave me the recipe.  Thanks hon!

Back at it

Alas, we are back into the routine now that our stint of vacations are over and done. The new school class timetable has good and bad sides. Mostly good as we can now sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast before heading to school. Another plus is we are forced to brown bag our lunch – so we are saving money. On the down side, our day isn’t done until 5pm. Which we should be used to a full work day since it has been only 7 months, but I guess your body forgets that pretty quickly.


We are again back on the hunt for yet another new apartment. We are hoping to maybe explore the Jebel Amman area, but we will see where the search takes us. The owner of our apartment will be returning from Qatar in June, so it is best for us to start looking now before the summer rent hike. We have been told it doubles – at least. Yikes!

My part-time job at the school is still going strong. It has been great to keep busy during the day. I am hoping it will last another month or so – fingers crossed.

For those of you wondering the leg has finally healed and I am back running. My plans are to find a race or two back in the states to use as a goal for when we return. If you know of any fun races in the October, November, or December time period, let me know.

7 down…5 more months to go!!!

Temples o-plenty

Every day for four days, we stopped along the Nile River to explore a temple or important Egyptian site. It seems we saw so many, they all ran together by the end. Thank goodness I took notes as we visited each one. Here are highlights of three that stood out. It seemed all were brilliant for their own reason…

The Valley of the Kings was really amazing. Located in the middle of nowhere, you walk into this valley of stone and rock surrounded with mountains on either side to find tens of tombs - some haven’t even been excavated yet. We explored three tombs, the first two had the most vivid of colors. The blues, yellows, reds, and black really jumped out at you – so vivid at times it seemed fake. To protect the colors, they were covered by plates of glass. Probably a good idea, as I wanted to reach out and touch them just like every other tourist visiting. The first two you could just walk right into them and all the way through, but the last one felt like the real deal. To get into the tomb, you had to climb a really steep metal staircase. Then after that, you had to climb up some stone stairs (I am sure added later for tourists). Once you were inside, you had to climb down an even steeper staircase with a low ceiling so you had to lean back, not forward as you would fall flat on your face. After those stairs and walking about 10 meters, you crossed over a wooden plank covering a real pit used to trap people. I mean really, this stuff is like in Indiana Jones movies. I was expecting to have to kneel next so my head didn’t get cut off by those razor sharp circular saw things. But alas, just more stairs… After another two sets of stairs we were finally to the bottom. Thinking it would be cooler inside; it was in fact quite the opposite. I don’t know if it was the lighting they had set up down there or what but if you felt claustrophobic, this was not the place to be. The inside of the final room was exactly what I pictured it would be – full of hieroglyphics depicting the rebirth of the mummy that once was laid inside. It was fascinating to see everything come together. Of course, no pictures were allowed within the Valley and or tombs, so you will find none attached but the memories will last a lifetime.

Karnak Temple one of the first we saw was amazing in so many ways. The sheer size of the temple astounded me. Huge columns, each individually decorated, lined like soldiers ready for battle. The statues in great condition stood so tall, I wanted a ladder to see the details. It seemed there used to be a sphinx road leading from Karnak to Luxor Temple. We learned that the scarab beetle, you may know it as the flesh eating beetle in the Mummy movies, is actually a symbol of rebirth and thought to be very scared. To ensure great fertility, it is thought that you should circle the stone statue of the scarab beetle three times. So just to be sure, both Rob and I circled it – some people even went the extra step and circled quite a few more times. No need for quintuplets now… Another amazing feat was the stone obelisks found at Karnak. Each obelisk was carved out of one piece of solid granite, then floated down the Nile River, and then placed inside the temple. This one stood at least 20 feet tall and wow, it was a sight.

The last temple in Kom Ombo was the most unique as it depicted the Crocodile God and the Falcon God. Neat huh? The Egyptians thought if they revered the crocodile, it would not attack them. Not too sure if it worked or not but it was a cool idea. The temple was later a place for medical treatment and even had some amazing hieroglyphics of medical tools used back in the day. The neatest was the picture of a pregnant lady kneeling on a birthing chair. A real picture into their world, was amazing.

Cruising the Nile

 

When we signed up for the 3 day Nile Cruise, I assumed I would be sailing down the Nile and be able to look to the side to see crocodiles crowded on the banks, scattering as we sailed by. Very Discovery channel right? Of course, I assumed wrong. We weren’t in a small motorboat in a pristine uninhabited area, we were in a convoy of riverboats sailing down the Nile River that was used by its people for anything and everything. We passed rural areas with thatched roof buildings, farming communities with their water buffalo and abundant crops, huge sand dunes pocked with vegetation, lush palm trees, and built up cities set alongside the river for tourism. It was such diversity, it was overwhelming.

On the second night, we needed to pass through the Nile “lock”. Basically the Nile River had two different water levels and in order to pass through to the next area, your boat must pass through the lock. It fit two boats at a time and once inside the water filled to raise our boat to the new water level. It was pretty amazing how quickly the water rushed in and the boat rose. I thought it would take longer due to the weight of the boat but it was only 20 minutes later and we were on our way.

Before reaching the river lock system, we were visited by what Rob liked to call the “Nile pirates”. We were warned by our tour guide that as soon as we pulled up to this area to wait in line for our turn in the lock, we would be swarmed with people selling their wares. Keep in mind, we wouldn’t be pulling up alongside the banks but out in the middle of the river. I guess when you want to sell something, you find a way. The two person boats would row up to the cruise boat and attach itself, practically running into our boat at full speed. Once attached, they would yell up to the sun deck for buyers – hey madam, hey madam. We, of course, ran to the side of the boat to watch the action. I am sure you are wondering how in the world they would get their blankets, dresses, shirts, and other goods up to the people? They threw it up! It was pretty amazing! You would see the plastic bags of goods lobbed up onto the sun deck, the buyer would check it out, either make an offer or throw it back. This went on for a while as the bargaining process is long and rather ridiculous at times. Some beautiful blankets popped up next to us and we and the family next to us started bidding. Twenty minutes later and after throwing it back down twice, once accidently in the water - opps, we came to a reasonable price. Who would have thought we would be able to experience this?!?

Cairo – pyramids and tombs, oh my

We started with the Egyptian Museum. Disappointed I couldn’t bring in my camera, I soon forgot as I took it all in. I mean, they had some pretty amazing stuff! Our guide, Mie (pronounced My), was the best of the best! She knew every detail and more. My favorite was the tomb of Tutankhamun. He started ruling at age 10 and died at 19 therefore only had 9 years to gather everything for his tomb, but wow, he did a great job. His tomb, much like Russian nestling dolls, entailed 4 boxes, 3 coffins, the mask that fit over him, and his mummy. After doing the math, that came to 9 which symbolized the 9 months of growing inside of the womb and therefore 9 stages to his rebirth. Each layer was either gold plated, inlayed with semi-precious stones, or when you got to the coffins – even solid gold. To ensure the tomb wouldn’t decay or degrade in anyway, they left a statue made of wood and plant material right at the door, made two holes in the sealed door, and lit the statue. This would burn and smolder until every atom of oxygen was gone. Pretty cool huh? The only catch was once this was done and the tomb was left to sit, a fungus would grow inside of the tomb. Only now do we realize this is what they called “the curse of the mummy” that would kill anyone who entered. Thank goodness when we entered, they had a long long time to air out.

Next we were off to see the mummies. It was a little extra money to see but totally worth every penny. They had 9 total and wow, they were all so different. Some really tall, some petite in size. Due to the mummification process, most were black because of the last step of tarring. I never realized they were black because of that. They had a few that were reddish or brownish but most were black. You could see some still had toenails, fingernails, teeth, even eyelashes and hair. After 4,000 years, you would think those things would be gone…

Afterwards we headed to a papyrus demonstration and then the Giza pyramids. Papyrus, made by the Egyptians for writing material seems to be pretty easy to create. After you have picked the papyrus plant, remove the green outing, split the pulp of the plant into long thin slivers, soaked the strips in water for 6 days, and after the sixth day you pressed the soaked strips flat for another 6 days. Wha-la! You have a paper product that is both waterproof and washable that will hold an imagine. Amazing creation, I must say.

Our next stop the pyramids. I couldn’t wait. I was mentally jumping up and down due to excitement. Who would have thought I would have the opportunity to see the pyramids. I have seen them on National Geographic, or the like, but this was real. As we drove through the city, you could see them in the distance. It was so strange. I always thought they would be located in the middle of nowhere. But in actuality, you could drive right up to it. We walked up to the largest pyramid and I just stood there in awe. It was huge! Each stone block was about the size of coke machine on its side. They had stairs so you could climb up on to them. I literally climbed the pyramids! I mean, really, it was surreal. We could see the other two in the distance, both smaller than the one we were standing on. One of the smaller pyramids still had the outer limestone layer at the top showing exactly what it would have looked like when they were built. I am sure the sun just dazzled off them.

My next objective was to ride a camel. They had so many to choose from at the panoramic viewing area. Our tour guide helped us choose the best ones and we were off. The young boy guiding our camels was really sweet. He was surprised Rob could speak Arabic so they chatted along the way. If you have ever been on a camel, you may agree the gate is somewhere between an elephant and a horse. At points, I held on with two hands but the funniest part was having to lean back when it stood up or sat down. I have to say if you ever come to the Middle East, a camel ride is a must.

- Here is a link to see a few pictures inside of the museum since I couldn't take pictures myself. -

Pyramids - check it out

Still can't believe we saw this in person.  It was amazing!!!!

Cairo - exploring the city

We arrived in Cairo and unexpectantly we were on our own for the day. We were suppose to do a guided city tour but there was some sort of mix-up with our guides. They wanted to take us to the pyramids that day but it was already noon, with an hour drive out, and a closing time of 4:00pm. After doing the math, we didn’t feel that was enough time. Since our trip was primarily centered on the pyramids, we decided to proceed as originally planned and explore the pyramids the following day.

So now that we were on our own, we decided to venture to the El Khali Bazaar and Mohammad Ali Mosque. Deciding to go with the hotel taxi service, as we heard the local taxi drivers can be a little sketchy, we paid for a trip there and back. It seems we hit it at the perfect time, in-between busloads of multi-cultural tourists and also during the call to prayer. We explored the bazaar maze looking for interesting items and good deals. Rob choose a traditional dish dash, what I like to call man’s pajamas. He had to bargain hard for it as they at first wanted him to pay $70. The name of the game is to just walk off after bargaining for about 5 minutes, the price will magically drop. Just like we thought, they ran us down a few minutes later with a great price of $10. If you notice in the pictures, I decided to cover my hair as I had been told about rowdy young men and I felt it was better to dress more modestly just to avoid harassment. It worked and I highly recommend it –probably not needed everywhere but mostly in the more traditional downtown district. After we had our fill at the bazaar we met our taxi at the designated time to take us back to the hotel.  Once we got there, they told us we had not paid for the return trip.  Keep in mind, we paid for there and back.  This was the first of many - what shall we call them, misunderstandings?  It seems everyone is trying to hussle you and if you don't watch out, they will get you.  Note to self - don't trust the locals.

Here were our top four most hilarious or eyebrow raising situations in Cairo:

1. People watching while on the way to see the pyramids, I saw a family of four on one motorcycle. That would be the husband, wife, older son, and daughter. It brings carpooling to another level.

2. The man we like to call the “Cat whisperer”. I don’t know what he was feeding them but they sure liked him! P.S. There are cats everywhere in Egypt – so be prepared.

3. The man who tried to be our newest best friend and then proceeded to try and get us to buy his handmade inlayed boxes. Always after a buck!

4. Seeing men ride their bikes through the city streets balancing baskets of pita bread on their head. I mean really – that is good!